Introduction of Group Electronic Monitoring of Hand Hygiene on Inpatient Units: A Multicenter Cluster Randomized Quality Improvement Study.

Background: The current approach to measuring hand hygiene (HH) relies on human auditors who capture <1% of HH opportunities and rapidly become recognized by staff, resulting in inflation in performance. Group electronic monitoring is a validated method of measuring HH adherence, but data demonstrating the clinical impact of this technology are lacking.

Methods: A stepped-wedge cluster randomized quality improvement study was performed on 26 inpatient medical and surgical units across 5 acute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada.